three-tonal
|three-ton-al|
🇺🇸
/θriːˈtoʊnəl/
🇬🇧
/θriːˈtəʊnəl/
having three distinct tones
Etymology
'three-tonal' originates from English, specifically the compound 'three' + 'tonal', where 'three' comes from Old English 'þrīe' meaning '3' and 'tonal' is derived from 'tone' (from Greek 'tonos') meaning 'pitch' or 'tension'.
'tone' came into English via Old French and Latin from Greek 'tonos'; the adjectival suffix '-al' formed 'tonal' from 'tone'. The modern compound 'three-tonal' is a straightforward descriptive formation combining the numeral and the adjective 'tonal'.
Initially it meant simply 'having three tones' and that core meaning has been preserved in modern technical usage to describe phonological systems with three distinct tone levels.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
a language or phonological system that employs three contrastive tone levels (i.e., a three-tone language).
Researchers documented a three-tonal in several rural communities in the region.
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Adjective 1
having or characterized by three distinct pitch tones in a phonological system (a language or dialect that distinguishes words by three tone levels).
The studied dialect is three-tonal, using high, mid, and low tones to differentiate word meanings.
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Last updated: 2025/12/27 18:01